SAN FRANCISCO, May 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lyft, Inc. (Nasdaq:LYFT) today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2020.

First Quarter 2020 Financial Highlights

Lyft reported Q1 revenue of $955.7 million versus $776.0 million in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 23 percent year-over-year.

Net loss for Q1 2020 was $398.1 million versus a net loss of $1.1 billion in the same period of 2019. Net loss for Q1 includes $169.9 million of stock-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, as well as $64.7 million of costs related to the transfer of certain legacy auto insurance liabilities and $58.4 million related to changes to the liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies attributable to historical periods. Net loss margin for Q1 was 41.7 percent compared to 146.7 percent in the first quarter of 2019.

Adjusted net loss for Q1 2020 was $97.4 million versus an adjusted net loss of $211.5 million in the first quarter of 2019. Adjusted net loss is adjusted for amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation, changes to the liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies attributable to historical periods, costs related to the transfer of certain legacy auto insurance liabilities and expenses related to acquisitions.

Lyft reported Contribution for Q1 2020 of $547.4 million versus $384.9 million in the first quarter of 2019, up 42 percent year-over-year. Contribution Margin for Q1 increased to 57.3 percent from 49.6 percent in the first quarter of 2019.

Adjusted EBITDA Loss for Q1 2020 was $85.2 million versus $216.0 million in the first quarter of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA Loss Margin for Q1 was 8.9 percent versus 27.8 percent in the first quarter of 2019.

Lyft reported $2.7 billion of unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter of 2020.

Fiscal 2019

Fiscal 2020

year-over-year

Q1

Q1

change

Active Riders (in thousands)

20,503

21,211

3%

Revenue per Active Rider

$37.86

$45.06

19%

Revenue (in millions)

$776.0

$955.7

23%

“While the COVID-19 pandemic poses a formidable challenge to our business, we are prepared to weather this crisis,” said Logan Green, co-founder and chief executive officer of Lyft. “We are responding to the pandemic with an aggressive cost reduction plan that will give us an even leaner expense structure and allow us to emerge stronger. Our competitive resilience and commitment to our culture and values will put Lyft in the best position to deliver on our mission of improving people’s lives with the world’s best transportation.”

"Our first quarter results underscore the remarkable progress we have made since our IPO, particularly on our path to profitability as we reduced our Adjusted EBITDA loss to $85 million from $216 million in the year ago period and $131 million in the fourth quarter of 2019,” said Brian Roberts, chief financial officer of Lyft. “In these uncertain times, we are building on that progress by taking decisive action to reduce costs and further improve our operating efficiency. We expect to remove approximately $300 million from our annual expense run-rate by the fourth quarter of 2020 relative to our original expectations for 2020.”

For more information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this earnings release, please see "GAAP to non-GAAP Reconciliations" below.

Webcast
Lyft will host a webcast today at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) to discuss these financial results and business highlights. To listen to a live audio webcast, please visit the Company’s Investor Relations page at https://investor.lyft.com/. The archived webcast will be available on the Company’s Investor Relations page shortly after the call.

About Lyft
Lyft was founded in 2012 and is one of the largest transportation networks in the United States and Canada. As the world shifts away from car ownership to transportation-as-a-service, Lyft is at the forefront of this massive societal change. Our transportation network brings together rideshare, bikes, scooters, car rentals and transit all in one app. We are singularly driven by our mission: to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation.

Available Information
Lyft intends to use its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases, public conference calls, webcasts, the investor relations section of its website (investor.lyft.com), its blog (blog.lyft.com) and its Twitter account (@lyft) as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Lyft's future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward looking statements because they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates,” “going to,” "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern Lyft's expectations, strategy, priorities, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Lyft’s future financial and operating performance, including the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and related impact on Lyft’s business, Lyft’s future profitability and Lyft’s cost reductions and expected expenses for 2020. Lyft’s expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, including risks related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations, including business and government responses thereto, and risks regarding our ability to forecast our performance due to our limited operating history and the COVID-19 pandemic. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Lyft's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K that was filed with the SEC on February 28, 2020 and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that will be filed following this earnings release. The forward-looking statements in this release are based on information available to Lyft as of the date hereof, and Lyft disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

A Note About Metrics
Lyft defines Active Riders as all riders who take at least one ride during a quarter where the Lyft Platform processes the transaction. An Active Rider is identified by a unique phone number. If a rider has two mobile phone numbers or changed their phone number and such rider took rides using both phone numbers during the quarter, that person would count as two Active Riders. If a rider has a personal and business profile tied to the same mobile phone number, that person would be considered a single Active Rider. If a ride has been requested by an organization using our Concierge offering for the benefit of a rider, we exclude this rider in the calculation of Active Riders.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement Lyft's financial information presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, or GAAP, Lyft considers certain financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, including adjusted net loss, Contribution, Contribution Margin, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin. Lyft defines adjusted net loss as net loss adjusted for amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation, changes to the liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies attributable to historical periods, costs related to the transfer of certain legacy auto insurance liabilities and cost related to acquisitions; Lyft defines Contribution as revenue less cost of revenue, adjusted to exclude the following items from cost of revenue: amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation, changes to the liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies attributable to historical periods, and costs related to the transfer of certain legacy auto insurance liabilities; Lyft defines Contribution Margin for a period as Contribution for the period divided by Revenue for the same period. Lyft defines Adjusted EBITDA as net loss adjusted to exclude interest income, other income (expense), net, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, costs related to acquisitions, stock-based compensation expense, payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation, changes to the liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies attributable to historical periods, and costs related to the transfer of certain legacy auto insurance liabilities. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA for a period by revenue for the same period.

Lyft records historical changes to liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies for financial reporting purposes in the quarter of positive or adverse development even though such development may be related to claims that occurred in prior periods. For example, if in the first quarter of a given year, the cost of claims or our estimates for our cost of claims grew by $1 million for claims related to the prior fiscal year or earlier, the expense would be recorded for GAAP purposes within the first quarter instead of in the results of the prior period. Lyft believes these prior period changes to insurance liabilities do not illustrate the current period performance of Lyft’s ongoing operations since these prior period changes relate to claims that could potentially date back years. Lyft has limited ability to influence the ultimate development of historical claims. Accordingly, including the prior period changes would not illustrate the performance of Lyft’s ongoing operations or how the business is run or managed by Lyft. For consistency, Lyft does not adjust the calculation of adjusted net loss, Contribution and Adjusted EBITDA for any prior period based on any positive or adverse development that occurs subsequent to the quarter end. Lyft believes the adjustment to exclude the historical changes to liabilities for insurance required by regulatory agencies from adjusted net loss, Contribution and Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors by enabling them to better assess Lyft’s operating performance in the context of current period results.

Lyft uses adjusted net loss, Contribution, Contribution Margin, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin in conjunction with GAAP measures as part of Lyft’s overall assessment of its performance, including the preparation of Lyft’s annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of Lyft’s business strategies, and to communicate with Lyft’s board of directors concerning Lyft’s financial performance. Adjusted net loss, Contribution and Contribution Margin are measures used by our management to understand and evaluate our operating performance and trends. Lyft believes Contribution and Contribution Margin are key measures of Lyft’s ability to achieve profitability and increase it over time. Adjusted net loss, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are key performance measures that Lyft’s management uses to assess Lyft’s operating performance and the operating leverage in Lyft’s business. Because Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin facilitate internal comparisons of our historical operating performance on a more consistent basis, Lyft uses these measures for business planning purposes.

Lyft’s definitions may differ from the definitions used by other companies and therefore comparability may be limited. In addition, other companies may not publish these or similar metrics. Furthermore, these metrics have certain limitations in that they do not include the impact of certain expenses that are reflected in our consolidated statement of operations that are necessary to run our business. Thus, adjusted net loss, Contribution, Contribution Margin, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin should be considered in addition to, not as substitutes for, or in isolation from, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Preferred stock, $0.00001 par value; 1,000,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019; no shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019

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Common stock, $0.00001 par value; 18,000,000,000 Class A shares authorized as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019; 297,989,705 and 293,793,151 Class A shares issued and outstanding, as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively; 100,000,000 Class B shares authorized, 8,802,629 Class B shares issued and outstanding, as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019